Improvement in medicated plasters



time sale new am ALBERT D. RICHARDS, OF SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGN'OR TO TUFTS, GROSVENOR & COMPANY.

Letters Patent No. 111,682, dated February 7,1871.

IMPROVEMENT IN MEDICATED PLASTERS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the lame;

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALBERT l). Rrorrsuns, of Somerville, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Medicated Plasters; and I hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, .and exact description of the same. i I

This invention relates to an improvement in inedicated plasters, tobe used to relieve pain, and consists in a composition formed of rubber, Burgundy pitch, and extract of belladonna, or opium,.whicl1 is afterward spread on 'cloth or .other. suitable material, to form a plaster, the rubber and pitch, when combined together, causing the plaster to remain at all times elasticand pliable, and always ready for use without the application of heat, while the plaster, after being applied, will adhere firmly to the body, and, when removed, no,portion of, the rubber or pitch will adhere to tllG'Skll]. V v 'Ioenable'others skilled in the art to understand and usemy invention I willproceed to describe the manner inwhich I have carried it out.

Italic two and a half ounces of Burgundy pitch, and, after melting it in a suitable vessel. add thereto three and a half ounces of extract of belladonna, and stir until they are thoroughlyhiixed and incorporated together.

As soon as this compound has become cold and hard it is broken up into small pieces and mixed with eight ounces of pure rubber, cut up into pieces of 'suitable size.

The whole is then ground in. a cold state until it is reduced to a pulpy mass, in which condition it is spread onto cloth, to form plasters, by means of rollers, in a well-known manner. v

In some cases opium may be substituted for belladonna, if preferred, as both. serve to'relieve pain; and

in making the above quantity of the compound about one and a-half ounces of opium in powder would be required.

'llieproportionsoiall of the above-named ingrewill not cause the co'mpound'to melt and run; consequently the plaster will not become displaced, as is liable to occur where Burgundy pitch alone is used as an adhesive agent.

It is exceedingly clean in its application, as no-portion of the pitch or rubber will remain on the skin when the plaster is removed.

The compound being placed on cloth renders it easy to be rolled up and carried about, and plasters ot' anyconvenient size can be cut therefrom.

Claim =\Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A' medicated plaster, made and coated with a compound formed of the ingredients 'set forth, and prepared substantially as herein described.

Witness my hand this 21st day of December, 1870.

- ALBERID. RICHARDS. \Vitnesses: p

I. E. TESOHEMACHER, W. J. CAMBRIDGE. 

